Inked in Green
by Kishiro Kitsune
Summary: Sequel to Marks of the Soul. Matt's been putting off telling Shiro and Kuro something important, choosing to wait until things were more settled around the ship. It's only by chance that they figure it out on their own.


Inked in Green

Kuro had to admit, things were going better than he expected. Sure, they'd lost track of Keith and Krolia for two weeks when the pair went off to chase the trail of some highly refined quintessence, and Pidge spent half of that time struggling to function under the strain of their Bond pulled so tightly, but they were back and had brought an Altean named Romelle with them. And yeah, Lotor turned out to be equally as crazy as his father, if not worse, and turned on them the moment the truth about his plans were revealed. The Castle of Lions getting destroyed wasn't great either, but it was either that or the entire universe. Obviously, they prioritized the safety of the universe.

Okay, things weren't great. They were downright bleak.

But everyone was together, slowly traversing through space as they made their way back to Earth. Pidge had the foresight to send the castle schematics back with her dad, in the hope it would help with Earth's defenses, and so they made their way there in a hope of building a new one.

Kuro looked around, keeping watch over his family.

Pidge and Keith were curled up together, getting the rest they deserved while their Bond healed. She'd done everything she could to stay by his side since he returned.

Lance was sandwiched between Coran and Allura, naturally gravitating more towards the princess, and all three were happily conversing with Romelle.

Hunk and Shay had chosen to join the three Galran's for the evening and the Balmeran seemed to be excitedly teaching them a game to pass the time. Krolia and Thace looked intrigued, while Ulaz appeared very focused on what she was telling them.

Shiro was up checking the perimeter, unable to stay still for long. It was something Kuro fully understood, as he'd taken the same walk three times since they landed.

His eyes turned to Matt, who'd gotten Pidge's permission to use the Green Lion and her laptop to attempt to contact their dad and warn him that they were on their way. He'd sent two messages already, but they had no way of receiving a response, and therefore no way of knowing if any of the messages were reaching.

When he got tired of sitting by himself, Kuro finally stood and made his way over to Matt, settling down next to him just as Shiro returned from his brief patrol. It was still weird, looking up to see a white-haired version of himself, but Shiro brought him a sense of comfort he hadn't known he was missing. Idly, he wondered if that was what it was like to have a twin, or if he and Shiro were just strange. (Well, they _were_ , but he meant strange beyond the whole clone thing.)

Shiro went still next to him, his eyes wide as he stared at the laptop screen. "Hey, Matt...?"

Kuro had never heard Shiro sound like that before – so genuinely shocked that words were a struggle to speak. He followed his gaze and understood at once.

 _There_. The last sequence of coded message. It was exactly the same as the numbers he could remember imprinted into his skin in dark green.

No. Shiro's skin.

Shiro's _Soulmark._

The realization floored Kuro. He hadn't even stopped to consider it. There hadn't been time. Or maybe he hadn't wanted to think about it.

He was a clone. A perfect replica o the real Takashi Shirogane.

Kuro had no Soulmate. No Mark of his own that he could remember. All he had were stolen memories.

"Matt, what does that last bit say?" Shiro asked.

His voice cut through Kuro's thoughts and a part of him screamed to pay attention.

"Right there? I'm writing to mom and dad, so it's 'I love you both'," Matt responded.

 _I love you both._

 _ **Both.**_

"Holy shit," Shiro murmured, summing up their mutual feelings with two words.

Matt turned around to ask what was wrong and was pulled into a hug by both of them. It was awkward and no one was really sure where their hands should go, but after a few bumps and Kuro nearly jamming his fingers up Shiro's nose, they got Matt settled relatively painlessly between them.

"The Soulmark. My – _our_ Soulmark," Shiro babbled, trying to explain.

"Oh," Matt breathed with a small laugh.

Kuro chose to take that as a good sign. At least Matt didn't sound confused.

"I, um, kind of figured it out a while ago. My Mark is two flowers. One black and one white," Matt explained. " The black one is newer. It showed up right before... right before everything. I just wasn't sure how to tell you both."

It was Kuro's turn to laugh, an unexpected relief swallowing him with a wave of emotion. He'd barely had time to worry about whether or not he had a Soulmate and there was Matt, confirming that he did.

"Is this okay? I mean, it's a little... unconventional," Matt said, sounding nervous.

"We pilot giant robot lions, I think we passed unconventional a while ago," Shiro said. "And this... this is okay. We'll figure this out together. All three of us. We were bonded together for a reason, after all."

Matt relaxed between them. "Okay."

Kuro would have been content to sit like that for a while, but Matt suddenly twisted in their group hug and before he could fully understand what was happening, there were soft lips against his own. Kuro watched, dazed, as Matt pulled away and did the same to Shiro.

Matt made a pleased sound as he unwound from their embrace to get back to his message. "I have wanted to do that for _so long_ ," he told them.

Shiro and Kuro looked at each other and then back at their Soulmate, waiting until he sent the coded message before dragging him back for some long overdue cuddling.


End file.
